Your Presence is Your Present

An important block in building a strong foundation for your child is the block called: Family Security.

In the last post, we talked about the fact that in order for your child to feel secure, he or she must experience your “being there” many times over, so that your child takes your constant presence for granted.

In thinking about your presence in your child’s life, ask yourself if placing your child in preschool or daycare would help or hinder your child’s sense of security?

If “being there”— time after time after time— is a prerequisite for building FAMILY SECURITY, then obviously, preschool or daycare would NOT contribute to this requirement.

Imagine a few scenarios:

Your child is with a group of children and one or two adults, does your child know that you are there for him? When he can’t find his mitten at daycare, does he know that you will help him find it?

When your child is upset because she fell down and scraped her knee, and is more embarrassed than hurt, can she count on you to be there to give her a pep talk and to build up her confidence?

These might seem like very small incidences that are really not terribly important.

But these small incidences are what make up the WHOLE of your child’s life.

When you have only been on this earth for three or four years, each of these MOMENTS are contributing to your child’s belief about the world and his or her place in it.

Each of these MOMENTS will be written on their souls in a way that will let them know if they MATTER in this world or if they are alone in this world.

If a child can take your presence for granted, then each of these moments will be securing a foundation that will last a lifetime.